The telecommunication field continues to experience an expansion of new functions and features to further enhance voice communications. One feature which has gained wide acceptance is a voice store and forward feature which allows storage and retrieval of voice messages between individuals without the need of the individuals to communicate directly with each other. The voice store and forward feature is generally a centrally located system having a number of "voice mailboxes" which can be reached by persons desiring to leave a message for another person, and where the other person can call in at a later time and retrieve such message. With this arrangement, persons can communicate in an indirect manner, notwithstanding their general unavailability for direct communications.
Voice store and forward facilities are adapted for use with telephone switching systems so that subscribers can communicate indirectly with other subscribers having assigned voice mailboxes. The deposit of a voice message by an outside party calling into a telephone switching system is not always so easily accommodated. Indeed, a person uninitiated with the procedures for invoking the services of voice store and forward facilities often finds it cumbersome to utilize such features. The voice store and forward feature is generally invoked through a telephone switching system when the called party's telephone set is busy, or when there is no answer to the incoming call.
If not integrated, the voice store and forward facility traditionally prompts the calling party to again enter the extension number of the called party and a code representative of whether the voice mailbox is to be accessed for deposit or retrieval of a message. Not only does this represent an additional procedural burden on the calling party, but also, in many cases, the performance of the voice store and forward facility is compromised. By this it is meant that if the calling party hangs up prematurely without completing the deposit of a voice message, or if the calling party inadvertently forgets to dial a predetermined stop code, the voice store and forward system may have to remain on-line an extended period of time to determine if an on-hook condition of the calling party exists. This often occurs as some switching systems generally do not transmit disconnect supervision signals to the voice store and forward facilities. As a result, the voice store and forward apparatus must monitor the telephone line for an additional period of time, such as twenty to thirty seconds, as an indication of an on-hook condition of the calling party.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that a need exists for a method and apparatus employed in connection with telephone switching systems to more fully integrate voice store and forward functions with the switching systems and thereby further facilitate the use thereof by calling parties.